The new channel, which will be called London Live, is one of 19 new local television stations planned for launch across Britain and is regarded as the only one with a chance of making a substantial amount of money.

It will serve around 4m households across the capital and is seen as the most potentially lucrative licence since the advent of Channel 5 15 years ago.

The Evening Standard-backed channel will be staffed by journalists from the free London newspaper, which is owned by oligarch Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny. It will air for 18 hours a day, launching by next spring, and will benefit from a £5m investment in marketing over the next five years.

The Lebedevs hope it will boost the profile of the Evening Standard, as well as their other newspapers, The Independent and the i, helping them to return it to profitability.

Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator which was responsible for awarding the sought-after 12-year licence, said the Evening Standard’s proposal was better developed than those of its rivals.

The company promised to give London Live £5m of marketing support over the next five years.

It was one of five bidders vying to run the television service. Regional newspaper groups including Trinity, Archant and Tindle joined forces to form the LondonTV consortium, which promised to intersperse localised content with film and television shows from Sony Pictures Television Network.

They were also up against Made in London, a consortium chaired by former BSkyB executive Ian West, with backers including Time Out and the Ambassador Theatre Group. Steven Norris, the former Conservative MP, was also fronting a bid by YourTV, which put a heavy emphasis on citizen journalism.

The final bidder, London8, was headed by former Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson and was backed by ITN and the Press Association.